Current Season - 2017 Video Archive

Viewing recorded lectures requires the Adobe Flash Player 9.0+. This plug-in is widely available across several platforms and browsers. If you don't have a Flash Player plug-in installed on your computer, you can download it from the Adobe.com website.

If you need a transcript for any of the content in this archive, please contact us at wmcesic@usgs.gov. Due to the technical nature of the content in this lecture series, accurate captions take considerable time to provide. We appreciate your patience.

The USGS California Volcano Observatory

It's not just earthquake country!

by Margaret T Mangan, Scientist-in-Charge, USGS CalVO

Volcanic Eruptions occur in the State about as frequently as the largest San Andreas Fault Zone earthquakes.

California's "watch list" volcanoes are dispersed throughout the State and future eruptions are inevitable--the likelihood of renewed volcanism is on the order of 1 in a few hundred to one in a few thousand annually.

We are trying to assess the impact of climate change and sea-level rise on the infrastructure, freshwater availability, and natural and historic resources of atoll islands under a variety of scenarios to determine "tipping points" - when islands are no longer habitable

Waterbirds in a Changing Landscape:

Evaluating Avian Response to the West Coast's Largest Tidal Marsh Restoration Project

by Susan De La Cruz, USGS Research Wildlife Biologist

The urbanized San Francisco Bay is a critical wintering and stop-over area for more than a million migratory annually that rely on a mosaic of Bay habitats, including former salt ponds.

The 15,100 acre South Bay Salt Pond (SBSP) Restoration Project is in the process of restoring 50 to 90% of former salt production ponds to tidal marsh while maintaining the rest as foraging and roosting areas for migratory birds.

How are birds responding to the preliminary phases of this project? How can research help optimize future restoration actions to benefit migratory birds?